The Rain Tamps Down Saturday at Jazz Fest 2023

La Tribu de Abrante

Rain in the middle of the day Saturday put a damper on a day that had a clear highlight from Puerto Rico.

Some Jazz Fest days just don’t come together, and that was Saturday for me. The rain jammed up the middle of the day and took the edge off the second half where a lot of promises were half-delivered. I was optimistic at 1 p.m. when I walked a row of food tents and only saw the normal lines for soft-shell crab po-boys and Crawfish Monica, but at 2 p.m. I bought a turduckin (sp) po-boy that was good enough, but I got it because it had the shortest line. The lines weren’t as bad as Friday, but they showed promise to worsen until the rains came.

The cashless system won’t be as fast as cash, but it will become faster than it was Friday. As customers get used to it, they’ll be more practiced and efficient buyers, and the sellers will be better at it as well. The turduckin po-boy booth mounted their card reader on a swivel on the counter so that it was anchored, stable, and easily accessed by the seller and customer alike. I’m sure other vendors will find their own solution to make things better, but buying food will likely remain a clunky, frustrating experience this year.

The day’s highlight was La Tribu de Abrante, which was perfectly, beautifully 100 percent too much. The Puerto Rican dance band’s bass sounded like it was born to rattle cars, and when paired with a baritone sax, they had the bassiest bass I think I’ve ever heard at Jazz Fest. Pair that with five percussionists, two more horns, three vocalists who were in constant motion—frequently at high speed—and you have the kind of show we don’t get enough of at Jazz Fest. It’s a contemporary, urban take on a handful of dance music styles with a presence in Puerto Rico, and the dancing gets furious, even acrobatic at times.

Also at Jazz Fest

- For the first two songs I heard during Maggie Koerner’s set, I thought Jazz Fest and the city were sleeping on her, missing the total package. For the last two songs of the set, I wasn’t so sure. The hooks that she handled so effortlessly in the first two songs were absent or plowed through in the last ones, leaving it to Koerner to put them over. She was easily up the task with the voice, personality, presence and commitment to put the songs on her back. She’s so compelling that I was fascinated by the second-to-last song as it stretched out, but musicians get farther when the songs do more than half the work.

That said, I still think she’s undervalued, and I respect Koerner’s bold choices. The best art reflects personal statements and there’s no mistaking her music for anybody else’s.

- When the rains came, I was close enough to duck into Sonny Landreth in the Blues Tent. I have loved Landreth’s playing in the past, and for a few years I interviewed him regularly for different projects and always enjoyed our talks. Hearing him again for the first time in a while didn’t tell me anything new, but it reassured me that what I used to like still merits the love. The ease with which Landreth slips between flavors of the blues including zydeco and some borderline prog variations remains impressive, and his guitar really sounds like shaped electricity. It’s unmistakable.

Unfortunately for Samantha Fish, I saw her set with Jesse Dayton next, and the juxtaposition was unfair. Fish is a very different player from Landreth, but she too leans into an electric sound to create the excitement and energy at the heart of her drag strip blues. I appreciated how fully integrated her act is with a sound that works with her bad girl look, and on another sunnier day, I can see that being a good beer-drinking experience. In the intermittent rain after Landreth, I rolled on.

-  Fish and Dayton were on when the hard rain ended because The Revivalists called in sick. Fish and Dayton moved into their slot on the Festival Stage. When Ed Sheeran started, I wanted them back. I loved the passion he inspired in his fans in 2015 and wanted to see if he still had that kind of power, or if he had become a bit of a dad. Short answer: dad. Suburban dad with zero edge. What I heard was so moderate that I had to move on.

The day appeared to be balanced so that he was its biggest draw, and no one else would be so big that a Saturday at Jazz Fest would become a mess. I never thought he would be bigger than Lizzo, and that if Friday’s lineup performed on Saturday, they would have had an extreme attendance event. The rain clearly hurt Sheeran’s turn out and it wasn’t even close.

Maggie Koerner in 2015, by Greg Miles

Sunday at Jazz Fest

We have two previews up now for Sunday acts: an interview with Joe Adragna of The Junior League, which plays the Lagniappe Stage at 11:25 a.m. and People Museum, who play the Lagniappe Stage at 5:30 p.m. In addition to those shows, I’m also looking forward to

Mdou Moctar

12:35 p.m., Cultural Exchange Pavilion

4:10 p.m., Blues Tent

Lost Bayou Ramblers

4:20 p.m., Sheraton New Orleans Fais-Do-Do Stage

For a newfound appreciation of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, check our interview with their guitarist, Jonny Campos.